In 1981 I met a person while I was taking a seminar for childbirth instructors. She had a couple of kids, of the two legged variety, as did I. We immediately connected and both of us were sure we had met somewhere before. She was moving up from California and settling in to the town to the north of me. We began doing classes and film showings together.
Flash forward a few years, a couple of kids, a couple of divorces, a lot of medical stuff, and three grandkids. For thirty years we had talked of a trip to Kentucky and Tennessee to see the leaves change color. After a bout with cancer (her), heart failure (me), the gimp disease thing (gee, that be me again), a DS kid with a whole package of medical things (again, her) I told her we needed to just do the trip and stop talking and dreaming about it.
(A couple of years before the trip I had flown out for a couple of days to meet with a motorcycle forum friend who had been in a horrific accident. I had promised that if he pulled through I would be there to help the family, and him, through those first reality checks following the loss of a leg. He made it, I went...and promised I would be back to see him once he was out of the wheelchair.)
Perfect! We would go. We would do a bunch of family history stuff on her side and I would get a chance to reconnect with friends. She was over and we bought the airline tickets. Were we crazy? Absolutely. Would we drive each other even crazier? Likely. However, this is like my sister. We knew when it was time to just give each other some space. We would either come home closer, or one of us would kill the other. Just like sisters, we are.
"We must blog," says she. "Eh?," says I. There is no way I am into keeping any kind of journal or diary. Never have, never will. But we had a very strange way of tickling each other's funny bone, and thus began "2Grandmas2." We blogged all through the trip. We were very sleep deprived. Neither of us had ever done anything like that trip before. We were two grandmas on a mission, but we had no idea where it would take us. I believe the count ended up being five states, eleven days, several tomatoes, heaven knows how many dead things on the road, a heckuva lot of y'alls and dahlens, and a friendship forever sealed in blood, sweat, and tears. She was S2, I G2.
She has since moved on from blogging. Perhaps all the doggy stuff drove her away. Perhaps she has moved to other things as I have moved to the doggy thing and triathlon thing. It's funny, as she was the instigator on this blog thing. She named it. She set it up. I stole it. I sometimes think I should spin off to another blog or two, but I can't let myself kill this one. There is way too much history here, and way too much future. So it will remain as it is.
2Grandmas2
So there you go.
G2
Oh, and the leaves changing? We blew it and went too early. I think it was our way of saying that we would be doing it again someday...
1 comment:
I'm from back east and try to get to Michigan, or West Virginia for the fall colors. For me it's the perfect ending to the 'year', as for some reason I've seen fall as the end, winter as a break, and spring as the comeback!
I sure miss the spectacular fall colors from back east, and the friendly people. People sadly aren't nearly as nice out here as they are where I come from. It's a shame, as there's so much to do in the NW, and the scenery is some of the most beautiful in the world!
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